It is not enough to be taken with some deft use of colour on a homepage when selecting a web developer in Brisbane. The person you hire should have an appreciation for your commercial aims, put things in plain language, cater to the mobile user and be there once the site is live. Otherwise you are left with a costly digital ornament that no one can update or even find.
I am Isadora Fletcher. My time in beauty and blogging has taught me that one does not simply ask for “a service”, one wants confidence and clarity and not to be made to feel foolish over an elementary question. It is the same with a developer. I would expect the right one in Brisbane to make technical matters easy to follow, present their case and lay out a workable plan from our first talk to a finished website.
Start With The Right One
What makes a good developer for a solo practitioner is not necessarily the right fit for a retailer on the up. Before you put a freelancer side by side with one of the web development companies Brisbane has to offer, put some thought into what the site is to achieve, who will be running it and how you define success. This is especially important when planning reliable online store development.
Put pen to paper and state your objective. Be it more product sales, better visibility in search, online bookings or a means of making sense of a complex service. Having a brief of sorts will see you in a position to evaluate any advice proffered rather than be carried away by jargon and a salesman’s assurance.
A Question Of Scope
The demands of a five page brochure are not like those of a WooCommerce store with stock to manage or a membership site. While a small business might want a developer they can get hold of, a bigger concern may call for a team to handle everything from strategy and design to hosting, SEO and support.
Inquire as to whether they have done work of comparable size and complexity. Experience in this context is not about rehashing another client’s site but being at home with the usual issues: privacy, accessibility, payment gateways, product variations and the like.
Know What Success Is
There is a difference between “make it modern” which is open to interpretation and “put up more qualified enquiries” which is something you can measure. For an online seller that is revenue and checkout completion; for a service provider it is the calibre of leads, form submissions and calls.
Do the maths and you will see the point. Say 1,000 a month visit the site and the conversion rate goes from 2 to 3 per cent. You have moved from 20 to 30 enquiries. On the face of it a single percentage point but in relative terms a 50% jump in conversions (traffic quality being equal). The developer will not put his name to that figure but he ought to know how the site is to be judged.
Freelancer Or Agency
One cannot say there is a clear winner. It is a matter of how much risk the project entails, the skills at play and the level of day-to-day contact you prefer.
I have seen a small business waste weeks talking to various people each of whom had a hand in some simple decision. You end up being shunted from reception to a technician to accounts with no one having the full view. There should be an owner of the project, be he a lone worker or part of a team.
If The Freelancer Is Appropriate
For a no frills website or a tight budget a freelancer can be the way to go. You are in direct contact with the person on the job and the relationship is all the more personal for it. But then there is the matter of capacity. Should he put in for leave or take on something else of an urgent nature your plans could be put back. Find out who is to be called in a technical emergency and if someone else can get in to the site. A launch delayed three weeks puts a different price on a cheap project.
The Case For An Agency
An agency has its place where you need a range of disciplines from copywriting and branding to technical development and optimisation. They also offer continuity if a member of staff is out.
On the other hand you may be dealing with account managers and overheads. Make sure you know who is writing the code, who is in the meeting room and who is to field your support queries. When you put out a call for a developer, you are in the market for a process as much as anything. It is not just about a logo and an office in Fortitude Valley.
Review Portfolios And Feedback
An effective portfolio will tell you something of a developer’s way of thinking; it should be more than evidence of his ability to put together an attractive screen. See if there is work there that is in keeping with your technical requirements, customer journey and the way you do business.
Then there are client reviews. They provide context, but one has to read them with care. “Great communication” is a commendation worth heeding since projects are as likely to come undone by a lack of clarity as they are by faulty code. Do not let a review stand in for asking about maintenance or what the experience was like once the site was live.
Look Beyond The Homepage
Take a phone and open up some of the example sites. Go through the checkout, the forms and menus, see how the navigation holds up. Read the text and page titles, make sure the calls to action and error messages are sensible. A still from a portfolio can disguise a site that is hard to update or sluggish.
Put the developer on the spot as to what he put his hands to on any given project. You may find an agency piece where the front-end layout was all he did, or a template with little in the way of custom development. Evasive answers mean you should think twice before parting with your money; honesty is preferable.
Check Relevant Client Results
Request some verifiable figures: better organic visibility, a content workflow made easier, faster loading or more completed bookings. But do not be taken in by numbers that have no explanation or defined period of measurement. There is no need to press for confidential analytics; a good developer will lay out his approach without having to show you private data. If a review touts an uptick in enquiries, find out what role the website played and what else in the way of marketing was at work.
Test Technical Expertise Early
The calibre of a developer will be felt in the security and speed of the site and how easy it is for you to put your hands on down the line. You need not be a developer yourself to want straight answers on the matter of hosting, ownership and code.
Inquire as to whether they are using a CMS like WordPress or WooCommerce, or something custom. Custom is not to be assumed the better option; at times it is warranted, at others it is a way of putting cost on a job WordPress would do fine. What matters is that your team can rely on the CMS and the developer can put in maintenance without issue.
Understand The Build Process
There should be a method to the proceedings: discovery, design, information architecture, content planning, then the build, testing and launch. Make clear when you will be reviewing work and the means by which feedback is to be had. A single list is of more use than trying to piece together comments from emails and screenshots.
Also get a sense of what is expected of you. Slow approvals and absent copy can run a project longer than the development proper. A timeline ought to be realistic and spell out the dependencies and conditions for launch, not some date conjured up.
Confirm Ownership And Access
It is your domain name, hosting, logins and payment accounts. The developer might be the one to look after them but in writing it should be plain who has access and ownership. Get confirmation you will have the files, the database and documentation and what the arrangement is should you go your separate ways. One does not want to be in the position of finding the business website sequestered in someone else’s account when a change is called for.
Protect Search, Speed And Security
The site has to serve both the search engine and the user. Put questions to the developer on responsive design, mobile optimisation, image sizes, redirects and the like. For a local operation mobile performance is key; a customer could be on a bus or outside a shop making a search. Try the site on an ordinary connection and a real phone, not the desktop at the developer’s end.
Ask About Search Foundations
SEO is something to be addressed in the planning stage. The developer should be talking about indexability, metadata, headings and technical errors. You might engage a specialist for the copy, but the build itself should not be the source of problems.
Who is to provide the words and photographs? A developer can put in place a sound structure but he cannot fabricate details of your services. Relevance to the Brisbane and Queensland market is a matter of being informative, not of inserting the word “Brisbane” every few sentences.
Check Security And Recovery
Get the lowdown on form protection, backups, software and account updates, and how personal data is stored and who gets to it if the site is collecting such information.
For the protection of their online systems, Australian businesses can look to the Australian Cyber Security Centre for official guidance. Your developer ought to have no trouble putting forward practical security measures in a discussion, as opposed to making an occasion of it with technical jargon.
Costs and Support: A Comparison
The cost of web development in Brisbane is not a given; it will fluctuate with the scope of the work. You cannot put a basic site, a custom Brisbane project and an involved online shop in the same category.
Have an itemised proposal put before you. It must make plain what is and is not part of the deal, how one goes about revisions, if content is there, who is footing the bill for any third parties and the procedure for when the budget is altered.
Value Over Price
Look at the deliverables, not the headline number. One might put forward a proposal that has three months of support, hosting, training, accessibility testing, copy editing and strategy. Another may be little more than page construction. The latter could be priced lower and still be fair, provided you are aware of what is left out.
Inquire as to whether the pricing is on an hourly or milestone basis or fixed. With a fixed price you should know how they sanction work that is out of scope; for hourly arrangements, set a spending limit that needs your ok before being passed and get an estimate of the range.
Once the site is live
Do not consider website maintenance an optional add on, it is part of owning a site. Put it in writing who is to mend broken forms, do the backups, renew licences and put right any urgent faults with the CMS and what the support hours are.
The same applies to hosting. While a small website can be served by something inexpensive, you still want performance, security and reliability. Know the monthly or annual outlay in Australian dollars (GST inclusive) and which services will renew of their own accord.
Before putting pen to paper
A well put question will tell you if a developer is up to the task and candid about trade-offs. There is nothing difficult in wanting the details, it is a way of safeguarding your business reputation and your money.
When interviewing, try this checklist:
- What have been your similar projects and what of it did you put in place yourself?
- Your recommendation for a platform and the reason it is right for my business?
- Who has title to the code, content, domain and accounts once we launch?
- Can you lay out the risks, dependencies and review points for the project?
- What is your process for testing mobile performance, responsive design, forms and the like?
- What manner of training and support comes with the site after it is up and running?
Red Flags
Some developers will guarantee you search rankings, shy away from a written scope or want to hold all the account keys; be wary. Vague figures, a timeline that is too good to be true and no plan for testing are also telling.
It is easy to be won over by a developer in a sales meeting but friendly banter is no substitute for honest updates when things go awry and clear decisions. A mozzie is a mozzie even in a nice shirt.
Coming to a decision
You want the Brisbane web developer who makes the work most comprehensible, not the one with the showiest presentation. Put together a full picture of the person’s experience, expertise, timeline, fees and support.
Should you have a day to shortlist, do three things: see the portfolio on a mobile, get a proposal with line items and find out what transpires post-launch. For ecommerce there are added considerations such as payment security and stock management. A freelancer can be sufficient for a service business of modest size, but for a store of some complexity or one where revenue is at stake, an experienced team is less of a risk. In the end you need a website you can run and a developer who knows your customers and does not mince words.
Brisbane Web Development FAQs
I would put these questions to a developer before a deposit is paid. Vague responses are not to be taken as comfort.
How much is a web developer in Brisbane?
One can not put a figure on it reliably. Page count, SEO, integrations, functionality and the rest will determine the cost. Get a quote in AUD with GST shown and compare the ongoing fees and scope, not just what is on the face of it.
What makes for a good web developer?
Examine the portfolio and client reviews, check the communication and post-launch support. A good one will have a process and a realistic time frame and will not sell you on effortless results or rankings he cannot guarantee.
Questions for a web developer
Find out on what platform they are touting, how they handle security, who owns the accounts and what happens if you wish to part ways or the project is behind schedule.
Web designer versus web developer?
The former is concerned with the visual side of things, branding and user experience. The developer is the one configuring the system so the site works. On a large project you will have specialists for each who have to be able to talk to one another.
Time frames in Brisbane
Custom or integrated systems can be a matter of months, a straightforward site a few weeks. Do not be sold on a launch date without substance; ask for the stages and what they depend on.
Freelancer or agency?
An agency will give you the capacity and disciplines you need for larger work or to have a team on hand. A freelancer is fine for a more contained project where you value the direct line of communication. Either way, make sure you know who is called on for a technical emergency or to make the call.
